Reborn- Journeyman

by Luka Petrov

  “Of course, he is. I suppose we will just have to beat him to the book,” reasoned Agnes.

  “That’s right, we are going to have to outclass this guy,” I confirmed.

  “Where’s the book?” she asked.

  “The Enchanted Swamp?” I replied. “I have never heard of such a thing.”

  “Nor have I,” she said while shaking her head.

  “If we are in the Enchanted Forest, and we need to find the Enchanted Swamp, I would assume the swamp is inside the forest and all we have to do is find it. Hamon said we were close,” I explained.

  “Sounds logical to me,” confirmed Agnes.

  As the memories flooded back of the day before and what had occurred, I reminded myself that I was in the Enchanted Forest. We had set up camp when we were certain that we were far enough away from Balfomeir and his henchmen.

  I looked around the forest and took in the scenery. It sure was peaceful out here. The sunlight penetrated the dense foliage, and I heard the birds begin their song. This scenery was much more pleasant than the jail cell. The forest was endless, dense, and ancient. Elm, buxus, and juniper eclipsed its canopy, sufficient twinkling lights burst through their crowns for a motley of ferns to sprout in the sloping and slanting ground below. Bundled creepers grasped two trees, and a hodgepodge of flowers, which were unique to this region, protruded from the otherwise beige forest floor. A tumult of wild sounds, predominantly those of foraging animals, reverberated through the air and drowned out the sounds of a fight over dominance between larger animals.

  Cecily, Yves, and Walter were all still sound asleep. I did not blame them; this whole ordeal was quite strenuous.

  I turned back to Agnes, “One thing I know for certain, if I stand a chance against Lord Abraxas, I will have to increase my ability.”

  “That is for sure,” she affirmed my notion.

  “What are you trying to say?” I asked.

  “You seem self-conscious of your abilities?” Agnes replied

  “I am. This is the first time I have ever been good at anything. During this life and my previous—” I stopped before confiding too much with Agnes. She was a great companion. She often shared in the enjoyment and fulfillment of others. Naturally, a kind soul, she was more sensitive than the others. To be honest, if anyone who I would tell about my secret, it would be her. She had always been very trusting and open with me.

  “Previous what, Ed?” Agnes pried.

  “Previous school. Right! The previous school,” I said while covering my tracks. I was not ready to divulge the secret I could remember my previous life, which gave me an edge over everyone else. Well, that and my eidetic memory.

  “None of us were any good in primary school. I guess none of us except Walter.” Agnes lowered her voice, “Between you and me, Cecily thinks Walter will be the end of us. She thinks he is dead weight.” Agnes whispered even lower, “Yves is not fond of him either. That’s why Yves suggested he not go last when we were escaping from the jail cell. Yves is brilliant. Besides you, she is one of the smartest I know. She thought we would have never gotten him out of there if it was just him in there. At least by leaving you in there, and knowing your deficiencies in Strength, you would overcome the obstacle with your mental strength. She was not so confident with Walter. We would have ended up leaving him in there, and then he would have been beheaded, and we could not have that on our conscience. He might be of inferior ability, and he might get a tad arrogant and jealous of our magical abilities, but I think he is a nice person. He is just having a hard time adjusting to not being the best. I don’t think way about Walter that Cecily does. I think he can be a little envious of our abilities but is really a nice person deep down.”

  “Let’s face it. He’s dead weight. If it weren’t for me constantly overcompensating for him, we would be done by now. Done!” I said, resentment set in about Walter. This was a horrible dichotomy. His mom passed, and he made her one promise to become a wizard. I needed him to become a wizard, so I did not have to use up my mana constantly to carry his load.

  Cecily stirred. She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings in the same manner as I did, startled by the environment we were waking to. “Relax, Cecily. We are in the Enchanted Forest,” I reminded her.

  “Oh, that’s right. How did everyone sleep?” Cecily asked.

  Agnes answered, “I was sleeping well until Ed woke me up when he screamed in his sleep. I guess he saw Hamon in his dreams.”

  Excitement grew in Cecily, “You saw Hamon? That must mean that he still is alive!”

  “Does it?” I questioned. “What if it was his spirit trying to mentor me from the beyond?”

  “I doubt that, hopefully, he would have better things to do if he spoke to you from the other side,” Cecily rationalized.

  “Perhaps he escaped from Lord Abraxas and is hiding somewhere,” suggested Agnes.

  “Perhaps. I do not want to get my hopes up,” I concluded. “Let’s stop talking about Hamon. All I know is that he wants me to find a book in a swamp.” It hurt too much to speak about him. I was near tears thinking about him and how I left him with the Demon Lord.

  “Huh? Could you narrow it down a little further?” Agnes said.

  “He said to gain the skills for my next level, that I will need to find a spell book. Ancient druids hid this spell book at the Enchanted Swamp. Oh yeah, Lord Abraxas is after this same book. He needs it to take over the universe,” I explained once again. Hoping not to have to explain it to each one who woke up. What also intimidated me was that I had to find this book before Lord Abraxas could. I was certain he knew that the book existed but was probably not sure where to look. Lord Abraxas had large armies and finding this book probably would not take them long given they had more resources than we did.

  Walter was the next one to wake up. “Hey guys, it’s peaceful here in the forest,” said Walter.

  “It is nice,” I affirmed. I sat on the ground, going over what we should do moving forward.

  Walter continued, “So what do we have planned next?”

  Cecily answered, “We are working on that, Walter. Give us some time to think of our next move, please.” Her temper was growing short with Walter. I suppose what Agnes confided in me was true, Cecily was not really found of Walter. I could understand why their skill levels seemed to be on opposite sides of the spectrum.

  I suggested, “We could return to Draererth and see what has really happened. Perhaps look for clues. Maybe we could determine for certain what happened to Hamon.”

  Cecily interrupted me, “Ed, we can’t go there, are you stupid? You are a wanted person. You are the number one most wanted. They will expect us to go there. That is the last place we will go.” Cecily was right, I had forgotten that besides beating Lord Abraxas to a book I did not know where it was, I was also being hunted by the army of Gilmore. I did not like her challenging me, but I realized that she was correct in her reasoning.

  Walter asked, “A book you don’t know where it is?”

  Not wanting to retell the details of my dream again, I became short with Walter. “Right. A spell book. In a swamp.”

  “Oh, do you mean the Enchanted Swamp?” Walter clarified.

  A smile came across my face and I asked, “Yes, the Enchanted Swamp. Do you know where it is?”

  “Sort of. I am not exactly certain where we are, but I have been to it before. Around the swamp are ancient ruins from druids who were outcasts from Little Brook, the town I’m from. One day, my dad allowed me to stay home from primary school and he took me on an adventure to explore those ruins. That experience was one of my favorites,” Walter explained, and a smile came across his face at the thought of that memory.

  Does Walter know the way? He is either saving us a ton of time and allowing us to beat Lord Abraxas to the spell book, or he is simply leading us like pigs to the slaughter. Walter has been nothing but lazy, selfish, and reckless. I often felt that Walter abused his charismatic nature by having others do h
is bidding, at least that was my experience with him back at Draererth. I was hoping the chap would grow on me, but he hasn’t yet.

  Shortly after this revelation, Yves woke up from her slumber. “Morning how did you guys sleep?” she asked.

  Cecily responded, “We all slept really well. It was a surprise since we are being hunted by the Gilmore army. Hamon spoke to Ed in his dreams. He told Ed that we must find a book and Walter seems to be the only one who knows where it is. There you go, you’re all caught up.”

  “Seems simple to me. Let me know when you need my help,” Yves responded. She did not sweat the small stuff, that was for sure.

  Those two were interesting. Cecily had grown to be jealous of Yves’ brains, while Yves viewed Cecily as being undisciplined. Cecily probably wished that she had a stable upbringing like Yves. Both of these girls were able to understand complex and complicated problems and had high self-reliance, they went about it in two different ways.

  Cecily and Agnes went to gather elderflowers and berries for us to eat, while Yves, Walter, and I discussed our next step.

  “We must venture south for several miles,” Walter gathered. “Judging by the sun, it appears to be this way.” Walter gestured toward a path that went south by his estimation.

  “Then we will go that direction after we eat,” I concluded. Not much later, Cecily and Agnes returned with the fruits of their gathering. We feasted on flowers and berries. My stomach was constricted from not eating for two days, that any amount of food satisfied it.

  Cecily, being the born leader, interrupted our feast, “I think we should get going to the Enchanted Swamp. Walter do you know the way?”

  Walter replied, “Not from this direction, but if we head south, we should run into a familiar part of the forest and I’ll remember where the swamp is. Since I lived south from here, as we head south, something should look familiar soon.”

  “Let’s get going, haste makes waste,” Cecily announced. I reluctantly threw the remaining berries that I had in my hand on the ground, the rest did the same, and we were off.

  We trekked for miles. Despite all the sense of urgency, I felt around me with having to find the book before Abraxas and being hunted, I took in the forest's peace. The sunlight broke through the canopy of the forest and sparkled on the morning dew of the leaves. The birds chirped their morning song and rodents rustled in the nearby brush as we traveled by their nests. My dad had always warned me of the Enchanted Forest. He had said there were indigenous tribes that roamed these areas. Wood elves were plentiful, and as long as I did not disrupt their habitat, I would never know they were there. Dwarves lived in the mountains that elevated up from the Enchanted Forest. Roving bands of orcs were always a threat, but that was just about everywhere, not just in the Enchanted Forest.

  The Enchanted Forest was a very dangerous place. Our best bet was to get the book and get out of here. After we gained the book, we could escape to Cecily’s home town of Broadhurst. Also, the home of Hamon. From there, I would learn the spells of the spell book and prepare to battle Lord Abraxas. With Hamon’s guidance, I would have this done in no time. Despite the dangers of the Enchanted Forest, the birds chirping sounded like a chorus and filled my mind with peace and tranquility.

  Walter who led our line down the path said, “Let’s keep going. At the moment, nothing is looking familiar, but something has to ring a bell eventually.” So, we kept hiking, further and further. At least I was certain we were headed in the right direction. Little Brook was south of Gilmore and Walter led us south according to the sun and the moss warts that were growing on the side of the tree trunks. Therefore, I continued my faith in Walter.

  As we trekked further, and by now I was certainly questioning Walter’s abilities in leading our squad. Me, being the last in the line of trekkers, heard a twig snap behind me. I pivoted to see what had caused the twig to break.

  Upon turning around, I found a line of three men, kneeling on one knee, crossbow drawn, waiting to hit their mark. Little did we know that they probably had been trailing us for miles. I looked at their drawn crossbows ready for any sudden movements made by our party.

  The group trekked on a path. During that time the group rolled a perception roll. The group was followed by 3 bounty hunters who are now surrounding them. There is no surprise round.

  “Get out of the way!” I yelled, pushing Yves, who was in front of me, out of the way as I guided her into the brush beside me. She screamed as I startled her. The others heard the commotion that occurred behind them and dove in either direction on the side of the trail into the bushes and under the cover of the trees.

  “Who are you?” I screamed, now taking cover behind a tree trunk along with Yves.

  The lead bounty hunter introduced himself to us, “We are bounty hunters. My name is Aragon the Wise. You might be wondering why I’m referred to as Aragon the Wise, well I’m one of the most accomplished trackers this side of the Starlight River. We had been tracking you for miles, we were tipped off by the remnants of your breakfast this morning.” Aragon kept a watchful eye on each of us and continued, “We are looking for a boy named Edward MacAra. Judging by the sketch that was provided with the announcement of the very handsome reward, I’m guessing he is one of the two boys.”

  “Bounty hunters? Reward?” I asked, shouting as I shielded Yves and we sheltered along the tree trunk. I was also wondering if Aragon called me handsome. I don’t think so, I think he was referring to the reward, but I was hopeful.

  “Right!” Aragon shouted back, still kneeling to stabilize his shot along with his two companions, ready to fire at any movement any of us made. “You are Gilmore’s most wanted. King Harold sent a flyer to every tavern in Gilmore and the neighboring villages. The entire village knows that you are the only one who can save Gilmore from the Demon Lord. The flyer stated that a reward would be given for any of the five returned since you are all outlaws, but ten million quid would be given for the return of Edward MacAra and of course, that person would be revered as a hero of the village.”

  “All right, I will surrender. I cannot have the entire village’s future on my conscience,” Walter shouted will he emerged from the brush on the side of the trail with his arms up.

  “I’m glad this was so easy,” another of the bounty hunters said. The three lowered their arrows as Walter walked toward them with his hands raised as a sign of surrender.

  Just then, Cecily came from out of the bush with a firebolt, damaging the bounty hunters and Chaos of combat soon fell upon us as we began fighting for our lives. Springing into action from behind the tree trunk, I fired a lightning bolt, in doing so, I discovered that I can actually chain the lightning bolt up to three targets at a time. This is new, I must have gained a new ability. Perhaps multi-casting I had been wanting to uncover. Assuming I survive this battle, I will have to look at my stat card.

  Everyone rolled for initiative bringing Edward in the first of the initiative. Edward casts chain lightning class skill, hitting 3 bounty hunters. The first for 8 points of damage, the second for 5 points of damage, and the third for 7 points of damage. Edward killed 1 bounty hunter in one turn.

  From my multi-target lightning bolt, the three bounty hunters shriek in pain from the sudden blast. I was feeling really powerful at the moment. I was thinking that I was really good at this magic thing. Then one of the men who previously wailed in pain stood up. He must have been a magic user because he cast a fire blast. The fire blast split our entire group up. From the effects of the spell, Yves and Agnes fled east in the woods, deeper into unknown territory. The magic-user bounty hunter cast a fire blast at the group, everyone makes a dexterity safe taking 3 points of damage.

  My friends all scattered, Cecily must have run north. After defeating the two of the bounty hunters before they disappeared into the forest, I continued to run south, confused and knocked off course. I was uncertain which direction Walter ended up fleeing. I had lost track of him after Cecily fled.

  The rema
ining bounty hunters chase them into the woods ending the encounter. The group gains 100xp each.

  I continued running, fire and ice bolts hit the ground that my feet had just left. The magic-user bounty hunter must have followed me. I cast fire and ice bolts back at him. I could defend the bolts he aimed at me.

  Edward fled further into the enchanted forest with the magic-user chasing him.

  I did not have time for this; I had to get to the swamp. I deflected more fire bolts coming from the magic user before I was able to run. Speed had not been my strong suit; however, I was surprised how fast I could run and for how long.

  The magic user followed me even further, casting more fire and ice bolts. While running, deflecting the onslaught of bolts, my magical abilities grew stronger and stronger with every deflection.

  I continued to run, and soon enough, I found myself at the edge of a swamp. I made it! I made it to the swamp! The swamp was picturesque. It looked like the swamp from my dream, but even more beautiful. Thick climbing plants drooped from the occasional tree over the swamp. A medley of flowers, which desperately tried to claim the last remnants of light grew at the edge of the brown marsh in the middle. Dragonflies hovered over the water-soaked ground.

  Off to the right of the swamp lied the remnants of druid structures that had collapsed and were rubble piled on the side of the swamp. Druid artifacts peaked from the swamp, statues of gods, columns, and a wall with various symbols. Beyond the druid ruins, boulders of obsidian lined the backside of the swamp and appeared to keep much of the water as the depth of the swamp looked much deeper there than where I stood. From the boulders, the elevation increased. The swamp backed up to a small mountain range.